I'm two days out from Vava'u, heading approximately toward New Zealand, and all is well. The sailing so far has been fast and good. The days are warm although the nights are cooling down a little. This is the easy part of this passage, the weather up here is still pretty organized, lots of east and east-south-east winds right now.

I've decided to not stop at Minerva Reef. The weather patterns right now are changing quite a lot each day, but I generally like continuing on over stopping at the reef. I have heard really good things about the reef and it would be fun to join the Minerva Reef Yacht Club, and anybody who stops there can claim membership, but I think I'm better off continuing this journey.

I'm downloading weather forecasts, GRIB files, once a day. Their forecast keep changing and I think if I were to wait at the reef until they were perfect it could be quite a wait. A number of boats at the reef left yesterday and today. Yesterday the weather forecast looked a little more organized, I would have to cross one front a few days from now and then might have been able to make it into NZ without crossing another front. Now it looks like I may have to go through two of them. Things keep changing each day and I suspect a few days from now I'll have more detail on what to expect. Nothing I've seen so far looks too uncomfortable, although there is some light wind ahead of me and unless I motor quite a distance that might not be much fun.

I'll try to post again in a few days, but as usual, if I stop posting, please, nobody panic. There are lots of reasons why my ability to post could be compromised while at sea.

About Me

I bought a boat in 2009 and over the next two and a half years got both the boat and myself ready for a longish sail. In September 2011 I left Seattle singlehanded to sail the route: Seattle; California; Mexico; Hawaii; Seattle. I stayed for a year and then left again, in 2013. That cruise lasted three years and had me visiting: California; Mexico; the Marquesas; Tuamotus; Society Islands; Beveridge Reef; Niue; Tonga; New Zealand; Minerva Reef; Tonga; Fiji; New Zealand; Hawaii and back to the Pacific Northwest where I'll stay for a while. Cruising is an amazing way of seeng the world, and I look forward to seeing some more of it in the future.